Do you prefer high action?

I use medium action and I have jumbo frets and I also use an adjustable brass nut, so I adjust the action at the nut and bridge. If the action is too low, my fingers get stuck on the fretboard when bending. Also, if I do big up bends, my fingers can go underneath the lower strings, so I don't have to use more force to bend strings.

For 6 string guitars I set all the strings at the 12th fret to 6/64" (2.4mm). For 7 string guitars I set the lowest string to 7/64" (2.8mm) and the rest to the same as a 6 string. I set the nut at the 1st fret around 1/64" (0.4mm) to 2/64" (0.8mm)


These are the adjustable brass nuts I use. They make a huge difference how the action feels and the intonation no longer goes sharp on the first 3 frets. I dip each nut saddle's threads in wax, so they don't move when changing strings. I've installed these on all my 6 string guitars. They don't make them for 7 string guitars, so I bought 2, so I have 7 saddles, a 1/4" square brass rod, M3x0.5 tap and drill bit and T-Handle Ratchet Tap holder, so I can make my own.

= Guyker 43mm Guitar Adjustable Brass Nut - Height Bell Nut Replacement Compatible with Gibson Les Paul LP SG Style Guitar =
Amazon product ASIN B084Z77MJM
 
Dimi84 said:
Well, descriptions of "high" and "low" action can be loaded. How low is your action? People even add fall away -- or different relief on treble vs bass sides via plek -- for partly similar reasons to typical string height adjustments (partly different effect, but still).

I certainly don't think it's a fallacy that higher action, all things being equal, at least from some threshold and on, helps the guitar sound "cleaner", including getting cleaner bends.

You can give the same guitar to 2 people. For the first, it buzzes -- even plugged in. For the second, it hardly does. Playing technique matters. Not just slide playing imo, even if a certain threshold tends to be more important for slide playing.

And there may be a certain threshold of technique, settings, set up -- whatever variables are in play -- where the specific difference in string height made not much of a difference for you.

Never mind that this charvel is a guitar which you weren't familiar with at a lower string height, I would assume?

I'm not doubting that for you there are was no big or meaningful difference, as an experience. But switching between guitars can alter enough variables to throw off such testing.

If you have a 7.5 inch radius you'll eventually reach a point where you won't be able to do 3 semi tone bends, as action gets lower, other variables consistent. That alone can be quite an issue and one of the reasons why people started doing flatter and even compound radius fretboards.

But it's also perfectly possible that someone doesn't bend as far, and doesn't pick hard enough, so all is ok.. or another person does pick hard -- and the guitar starts sounding and feeling more and more choked from a certain threshold and on.

Maybe people at times exagerate the difference "all" thresholds and changes make. It's surely more nuanced than that. But string height can certainly be important.
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I think it’s safe to say most here know that you can’t set a very low action on a 7.5”radius neck.
my point is that raising your action won’t make it ring louder or sound better if it wasn’t buzzing to begin with.
 
2204JCM said:
I think it’s safe to say most here know that you can’t set a very low action on a 7.5”radius neck.
my point is that raising your action won’t make it ring louder or sound better if it wasn’t buzzing to begin with.
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You can get a very low action with a 7.5 radius assuming you don't bend much/too far, which some don't. Considering most here are blues, rock, metal oriented players, they probably do.

But on the topic, I believe that even if a string doesn't hit the fret above, a higher clearance can make a meaningful difference, not only perceptible as lack of "buzz" per se. But it's something I want to test more. Not sure I understand this well enough.

That said, I don't know what people generally believe.. how much they expect to gain from this tonally. It may be that technique itself tends to change with higher action, which in turn also gives them a different sound.
 
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I was referring to flatter a radius, but yea it probably does make that much of a difference in tone ,probably more feel and technique .take a high narrow fret vs wide fret , different feel. I drive myself crazy, and am very anal about action and level frets. playing legato ,I want my guitar to play as easy as it can,
 
EdgE said:
I was referring to flatter a radius, but yea it probably does make that much of a difference in tone ,probably more feel and technique .take a high narrow fret vs wide fret , different feel. I drive myself crazy, and am very anal about action and level frets. playing legato ,I want my guitar to play as easy as it can,
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Yeah, I like a low action because I can play challenging stuff longer each day.
High action and heavy strings is for suckers. Van Halen and Hendrix figured it out, so did Billy Gibbons. Just to name a few.
 
GotMetalBoy said:
I use medium action and I have jumbo frets and I also use an adjustable brass nut, so I adjust the action at the nut and bridge. If the action is too low, my fingers get stuck on the fretboard when bending. Also, if I do big up bends, my fingers can go underneath the lower strings, so I don't have to use more force to bend strings.

For 6 string guitars I set all the strings at the 12th fret to 6/64" (2.4mm). For 7 string guitars I set the lowest string to 7/64" (2.8mm) and the rest to the same as a 6 string. I set the nut at the 1st fret around 1/64" (0.4mm) to 2/64" (0.8mm)


These are the adjustable brass nuts I use. They make a huge difference how the action feels and the intonation no longer goes sharp on the first 3 frets. I dip each nut saddle's threads in wax, so they don't move when changing strings. I've installed these on all my 6 string guitars. They don't make them for 7 string guitars, so I bought 2, so I have 7 saddles, a 1/4" square brass rod, M3x0.5 tap and drill bit and T-Handle Ratchet Tap holder, so I can make my own.

= Guyker 43mm Guitar Adjustable Brass Nut - Height Bell Nut Replacement Compatible with Gibson Les Paul LP SG Style Guitar =
Amazon product ASIN B084Z77MJM
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2.4 mm for the low E is on the high side. For the high e, it's really high! But, I've noticed that it's a common trend that players with high action, don't realise just how high theirs is compared to other players.

Medium action IMO is 1.2-1.6 for the high e, and 1.6-2.0 for the low E. Anything above or below is high and low action respectively.
 
When I was a kid, playing a stupid number of hours every day, my touch was lighter than it is now. I had a really old SG with really really low action, and a light touch was what you wanted. Also had a tele, which wanted some string snap when I wanted it, because tele.
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Today, I still don't like high action, because the resistance in my left hand makes me pick harder. The height also makes a bit of delay pushing down the strings.

Both my guitars have higher action than I'd like now actually...
 
I have the action nice and low on all my guitars (aside from the Flamenco I never touch because the action is too high!). I used to be happy with a little buzz, since it wasn't audible with a high gain tone. Since getting my jazz archtop, though, I've become much more sensitive to buzz and the nasty 'clank' sound. The luthier set the action amazingly low for me - around 0.8mm on the low E, probably lower than on my pleked Jackson Custom Shop - and provided I pick lightly, there's no buzz at all. And it turns out the guitar sounds sweetest when I pick lightly anyway, so it's all good. The only downside is that this guitar is much more sensitive to climate change than my others, so I find I have to tweak the bridge height or truss rod periodically to keep it so low.
 
guitarnerdswe said:
2.4 mm for the low E is on the high side. For the high e, it's really high! But, I've noticed that it's a common trend that players with high action, don't realise just how high theirs is compared to other players.

Medium action IMO is 1.2-1.6 for the high e, and 1.6-2.0 for the low E. Anything above or below is high and low action respectively.
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I forgot to mention I live in Rochester, NY USA where Mother Nature is bi-polar and can never make up her mind and the weather is always changing, so instead of adjusting the neck all the time, I keep my action higher. I have to do the same thing with my basses. I also have a bad habit of picking hard which causes a lot of string buzz with low action.
 
GotMetalBoy said:
I forgot to mention I live in Rochester, NY USA where Mother Nature is bi-polar and can never make up her mind and the weather is always changing, so instead of adjusting the neck all the time, I keep my action higher. I have to do the same thing with my basses. I also have a bad habit of picking hard which causes a lot of string buzz with low action.
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Do you have a humidifier in your guitar room? One of the best investments I've ever made. My guitars are so much more stable now. I rarely touch the truss rod. Before, I had to do it several times a week.
 
I like 9's on my Fender scale guitars, 11's on my Gibson scale ones, and 10's on my Conversion (Fender to Gibson) necks. Crazy huh? I keep the action and relief pretty much a tad lower than factory suggestion.
 
Admin M@ said:
Not me, but check out Ronni Le Tekrø.
You can fit a pencil in between the strings and the neck (no joke)
Mark Day and I were just talking about this.
2:12 for guitar action closeup.

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I have been to his home a couple of times and can confirm this!
His guitars have incredibly high action, impossible to play legatostuff on.
Especially the checkerboard 70's strat you can see in the "Seven Seas" video and more.
But the "machinegun" technique works great, notes just sputters out with incredible attack!😀

By the way, wish Mark Day would redo his Tekrø preset for Axe III Cygnus.
His old preset was so good I fooled some people thinking it was him playing when I did a recording.
it was so close!
 
I set my guitars up for approx. 1.5mm across all the strings - but I also have my necks pretty straight to have the consistency across the neck
 
I like the action at 50/60 thousandths across the high to low E. But only if the neck relief is perfect and so are the frets, also the fret size has to be 57110 Jescar . If any of these things are off it has to be higher. Grip on the string is super important and a low action on a low fret is going to give no articulation control and beyond a certain hight no tone benefit. The thing about action is if everything is correct lower than the hight I state is not really easier to play and you are sacrificing dynamic range as the string will just hit the next fret as soon as you hit it. Also any higher is not going to help either as there is already enough space for the string to vibrate properly and unless you hit so hard as to effectively attenuate every note by its first contact with the next fret. Neck relief must be in the exact right place and almost none, and the frets need to be level for this to work. If you can't get this set up then your guitar is at fault. (many regardless of price have suspect relief in the wrong area.)
 
No. But I have to have fairly high action for the 13 pin stuff. I used to have higher action because I was tuned to C# standard and had the picking hand of hammer. I have eased back a LOT since then. Mainly because I don't want any GR trumpet misfires lololol
 
I've spent almost 30 years constantly thinking lower = better.

This past year I've finally accepted that I play better, cleaner, and clearer with higher action. Most likely because I have absolutely gargantuan hands and super long fingers. Like, Paul Gilbert style. But things just come together easier for me if I feel like I'm fighting the string just ever so slightly.
 
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